Sheep Food

  “While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” (Matt. 13:24)   While men...slept.   According to the parable of the Ten Virgins in Matt. 25, with the ‘virgins,’ being a type of the church/believers,...what was the state of all ten prior to the return of the bridegroom?   They got drowsy and fell asleep.(vs. 5) Hence...why we see in several places where Paul admonishes the church to ‘wake up’. (Eph 5:14-15; Rom. 13:11)   I think it goes without saying that our enemy, the devil, will often attempt to counterfeit the ways and things of God. If we are not careful, we can succumb to them. (Matt. 24:24; 2 Cor 11:2-3;14)   So when you study Matt. 13 and the parable of the sower, we see where a sower went forth to sow seed (word of God) and those who really were not sure what they were hearing, or ready to receive it,...the birds (devil) come immediately to snatch that seed (word from hearts vs.19). And in that same chapter, we read the parable of t

  I bet yesterday’s post left you scratching your head some. Which is good. Who here doesn’t have much still to learn from this bible? I know I do. I also know that when I’ve always ‘thought one way’ about a particular subject, having to relearn or look at it from another perspective can be difficult. Unlearning false concepts or beliefs is not a walk in the park. And maybe it’s not even having to ‘unlearn’ something rather just take in new truth that we never considered before or gave much though to. But better late than never, right?   I left you with the idea that maybe God actually ‘uses the devil’ as an agent of his wrath or even ‘correction’? (Hab. 1:12). When I begin to see this truth laid out in scripture, both OT and NT, then more ‘dots got connected’ and things become more clear. I left you with that scene of Moses throwing down his rod, at God’s instruction, and it turned in to a serpent which he then picked up by the tail and it turned back in to his rod which can b

  Do you know what is actually better than all those promises we read written in scripture that God has made?   When we SEE those promises fulfilled in our lives by God.   Yeah...that one got my attention too. Interesting thing about God’s ‘promises’; promises I might add that are made by a God who cannot lie...(Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18)...while His great love for us is unconditional, His promises are not.   You can go in to bookstores today, or order online, any number of books written that have nothing but scripture after scripture of ‘promise verses’. I’ve never quite understood the premise behind that. It’s one thing to sit there and pick all the cashews out of a bowl of mixed nuts because you have a preference for them. It’s another thing to do that with God’s word.   No doubt someone is making money off those books and countless numbers of people in need buy them, devour them...and quote and recite and ‘believe hard’ to see those promises come to pass. And there are plenty of go

  Regarding yesterday’s lengthier post...this is not an apology. It’s an encouragement that you read it if you missed it and maybe even read it again. Funny...I can remember in years past getting overly involved with a TV series where I could not get enough of it. Those sixty-minute episodes went by too fast and I hated to see the series finally end. (Jack Bauer -24, stands out to me, which my brother described it, once he waded in to it, as ‘crack’). I have also sat through 45 minute sermons in church that could not end quickly enough.   I believe it was Jesus who said “wherever your treasure is, that is where your heart will be also.”   Yesterday we looked at getting out from under the oppressive weight of condemnation. It really is ‘a thing’. I was encouraged in my spirit that the lesson would resonate with some folks and that God was truly going to confirm and bear witness. I hope it was You He was meeting with. :- )   There is nothing quite like getting down to business with Go

  I’m pretty sure we’ve all experienced it. Multiple times I would imagine. It can come on you in the least expected moments. Some of you reading this now may have woke up earlier today where it was waiting there by your bedside to join you. Others, perhaps went to bed last night under its oppressive weight; or worse yet, woke up in the darkness of early dawn, tossing and turning and trying to smother out its taunting voice. Some of you...have just learned to live with it, assuming there is no escape, even though many try to numb it with the use of drugs or alcohol or any number of other vices.   Amazingly, many thought they might find relief from it while pursuing ‘good works and religious activity’. And to no avail.  If you have not identified this unforgiving ‘spiritual’ foe yet, I’m talking about the weight of condemnation and guilt.   A simple definition of the word is: “the expression of very strong disapproval; censure.”   It can be not only oppressive, but relentless. The

  There is a growing school of thought today among many believers that if we could just get all the right ‘key players’ in all the ‘right places’ in our society like politics and entertainment and business and such, that we could get this world ‘cleaned up for Jesus’ so when He returns, we could hand the world over to him in great order...kind of like one of those home renovation shows where they hand the keys over to the owner after the fancy re-do.   When I hear that kind of talk it makes me wonder what bible folks are reading these days. Jesus painted a little bit of a different version describing things just prior to His return. He spoke of a great amount of indifference that seems to settle over His people. You can read in Matt. 22 and Luke 14:18 where people who had been invited to this ‘wedding’ by a ‘king’ were more preoccupied with their oxen and tending to new property they had purchased, and seeing to their families and such.   Why in Matt. 24:36-44 Jesus likens that comi

  Don’t we all have fond memories of having vocabulary words to study back in our school years prior to reading a new book or unit in some particular subject? I know I gave quite a few vocabulary quizzes over the years when I taught junior high Reading.   Believe it or not, there were legitimate reasons for studying those words prior to delving off into a lengthy chapter in that text book. You were going to come across those words and being able to not only recognize them, but understand their meaning was essential to having better comprehension of the material you were covering. And many of us, I presume, were/are experts at just skirting over a ‘hard-word’ that made no sense and never bat an eye in the process.   IF only...that jet pilot had known what the word ‘eject’ meant before he pushed that silly red button while flying at the speed of sound over some ocean. ;-)   In all the years I’ve been a part of any number of churches, I don’t ever recall anyone suggesting or offering up

  Is there a more well-known hymn today than ‘Amazing Grace’?...Or that closing line...”was blind....but now...I see.”   I’m guessing it is safe to say that we are talking about a spiritual ‘blindness’ as opposed to physical. Fact: We were ALL blind to begin with. What remains to be ‘seen’ (yes, pun intended) is do we really see?   And what was the source of our blindness originally?   We know that Jesus was sent to a people ‘sitting in darkness’. (Matt 4:16). He came to be not only a light, but ‘THE’ Light... of the world. (John 8:12)   We also know that ‘light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil...and would not come to the light because they hate the light.” (John 3:19-20). Yeah...that one always gets to me as well.   “But he who does or practices or loves the truth...comes...to the light...that his deeds may be clearly seen...” (vs.21)   [Quick Pause for Clarification Here] – ‘light’ = ‘word’ = ‘Jesus’. Jesus Is the Word...H

  Being a photographer with an assortment of cameras and lenses, not to mention some cool drones for aerial photography, my profession has allowed me plenty of opportunities to photograph a lot of interesting and cool stuff.   In the past, I had the opportunity to visit a rock quarry up in Oklahoma which oddly enough, was fascinating to me to see the process of how rock and sand of all sizes is ‘produced’ to be sold.   And it usually begins with a ‘big bang’. Yep. There is such thing as that.   Trained professionals spend time planting explosive materials deep into the sides of these rock cliffs. Once ready to detonate, everyone clears the area. Then, there are repeated blast of a warning siren that echoes throughout the area giving everyone plenty of heads up warning of what is about to occur. It was pretty cool filming this with my drone. I actually kept the drone further back than what was probably necessary because I heard that flying rock can travel a good distance when the b

  It is God’s desire for ALL men( and yes, women) to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim2:4)   Throughout the inception of the church, it would appear that we have tried every which way to ‘get folks saved’ while ‘helping God out’ in ushering lost folks into the Kingdom.   When you look back over ‘church’ history, we see somewhat of a pendulum effect where we go from one extreme to another. Now I’m not suggesting that everything labeled ‘church’ is or was The church, but you get the idea. We’ve tried scaring folks into the kingdom.   We’ve tried ‘loving’ them into the kingdom. We’ve tried singing/entertaining them in...and for goodness sakes...the ‘supposed church’ tried forcing them in to the kingdom with swords. (The Crusades)   We seem to forget at times (or maybe most of the time) that it was Jesus who said: “I will build My church...” (Matt. 16:18)   Granted, Paul does remind us that we are indeed ‘co-laborers’ with Christ ( 1 Cor. 3:9) but He is still the H

  When scripture warns us to be careful lest we drift away...do you think it’s possible we could wander off or drift away? (Heb. 2:1)   When scripture warns us to not be deceived ...do you think it’s possible that brethren could be deceived? ( James 2:16; Matt. 24:24-25; Eph. 5:6;)   When scripture warns us to not think we are standing firm lest we fall, ...do you think it’s possible we can become overly confident and end up... falling? (1 Cor. 10:12)   Peter discovered this to be true in one of his not so finer moments. Everybody knows about Peter’s denial. It’s recorded there in all four gospels for all the world to see. And this was before social media was a thing.   I find it ironic that it began around the subject of ‘dying’.   In Monday’s post, I wrote about how the early followers of Christ WERE the proof of a resurrected Savior who was now indwelling in them and it was evident to all by their transformed lives. We were reminded that before there can be a resurrection, there